Weve been housesitting for over 8 years and are stumped by how few london housesits there are this year? Anyone know why?
@Fionabarton1970 hello and welcome back to posting on the forum!
I have been perusing the open sits and have seen quite a few new ones just today. Are you looking for a particular type of sit (pet, duration, etc)? You sure have done a ton of sits over the years!
I would suggest you link your member profile to your forum profile here at How to add a listing or profile link to your FORUM profile - Owner & Sitter Exchange - TrustedHousesitters Community Forum. This will just give you a extra layer of exposure to our members here,
Just keep watching for those sits as I am sure there will be so many coming up in the next few months.
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Since the 5 application policy began, you now have to be really quick to snag a London sit. Most have gone by the time the notifications arrive. 
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If you are in a different time zone I have discovered you can forget about seeing any central London sits as they reach 5 applications so quickly. The only reason we were successful with a lovely one over Christmas was that we were in England on vacation in October when it was posted.
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I’m in the UK and even in the same time zone they go quickly with the 5 application limit. If I happen to log on at 10 AM and see something that looks interesting it will usually be gone within 30 minutes.
If you search for London and zoom in on the centre, then scroll down to see ‘not accepting applications’ there are at least 20 that have the ‘Review’ status so they are there, they’re just quick to go.
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We have a really strange holiday pattern this year in the Uk so I think people are in crazy planning mode at the moment. We have crazy stuff like nurses, ambulance drivers, teachers, trains all on strike at different times so I think people are just trying to plan for the craziness.
Also, holidays are super expensive and have been since last summer so planning this year is going to be a bit more strategic I think . I am a travel agent and things are crazy right now with people booking for the year so I expect dates will be coming up soon !!
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@Fionabarton1970
Don’t be stumped. you hit the 5 limit wall. I see 10 plus very nice listings in London proper but they are all in reviewing. London is very popular. The odds of me being able to even send my application is slim to none. It’s disgusting.
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A post was merged into an existing topic: Conclusion Of Pausing Application Test - Updated Post
With the 5-application limit, it’s almost impossible to ever see sits in highly desirable areas like London, NYC, etc.
The THS notifications of your favourites or your saved searches are not helpful for the super-popular areas, because the notifications always arrive too late. You have to be on your device doing an exact search within just a few minutes of the homeowner posting the sit, and then have a prepared application ready to paste in and send instantly.
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I’m fully with you on this, Betsy. If we’re lucky enough to even see the listing before it closes off at reviewing applications, it feels like a bit of a mad frenzy to apply which is really not the right energy to be in when composing a message or approaching anybody. I’m very upset about this change as each day, I come across more listings that I’d have loved to have gone for but no longer get a look in as they’re already at ‘reviewing.’ It’s unbelievably frustrating so I really do understand where you’re coming from.
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I just went on open sits in London and am finding brand new ones with no applications yet.
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@Debbie-L This is not meant to disrespect you, Debbie, but isn’t the idea of favourites and saved searches to avoid members having to do such a search to see how many are available?
I just magnified the map to as large as it would go in London, UK, and came up with 10 active searches (discounting the one it captured that was way outside).
I then looked at the ‘reviewing applications’ listings and stopped counting at 100 showing that tag. There were more, but I decided to stop.
I guess that answers the original question of ‘where have all the London housesits gone?’ They appear to be sitting in ‘reviewing applications’. I’m still puzzled by the explanations of why this new process was put in place and how it’s supposedly working. I’m frankly sceptical when it comes to the reasons given by tech staff.
Signed: a disillusioned long-time member who is too late for listings on a nightly basis.
Admin: Please do not move my post as I have directly related it back to the question posed by the person posting. Thank you.
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The sits listed around London are very nice and I would likely apply to them but I also want the opportunity to have a fair chance at applying for a sit in London proper to enjoy the city right outside the door. I would like to do that with out watching my phone 24/7. (I’m a Sitter based in USA)
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@Debbie-L Are you in the UK? I am travelling in Bangladesh and India atm. I get between 10 and two dozen alerts every morning. With out fail the great majority of the London (and New York and most Swiss sits- my 3 top destinations after our current asian tour ) that come in over night are all ready full by the time I wake up - usually around 7 am. Yes, I get some alerts during the day here…many are still already full by the time I see them. If not , they likely will be by the time I get decent signal or out of the train, bus or tuk tuk to consider the listing properly and put in a considered application. Time Zones make a huge difference! This morning - London, New York, Italy and Budapest all full. A few days ago 10 out of 10 alerts were gone already. We were told very few sits reach 5 applications so it wouldn’t make a big difference. My statistics say that’s not even remotely true for places like London.
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This is happening to us every day. Many sits are already reviewing applications when the alert or email arrives.
This is very frustrating! One day this week the first 11 I looked at were unavailable for us to apply to.
Ignoring the time zone implications was ill-considered by THS and should be revisited.
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How on earth are these search filters set up?
Croxley Green is a village in Hertfordshire and it’s 20 miles from London. It is very much not a London sit.
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